
Reaping What They Sowed: Pakistan’s Taliban Problem
Pakistan’s decades of sowing terrorism across the region have now bitten its own feet, and the country is bleeding.

Pakistan’s decades of sowing terrorism across the region have now bitten its own feet, and the country is bleeding.

The Taliban claimed on Wednesday that more than 12 civilians were killed and over 100 others wounded in what it described as attacks by Pakistani forces on Spin Boldak district in Kandahar province.

Pakistan has ordered Karachi Port to suspend the loading of goods belonging to Afghan traders until further notice, Afghan traders told Afghanistan International on Tuesday.

Pakistan has ordered the immediate closure of all Afghan refugee camps in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, instructing residents to leave the country and return to Afghanistan, local media reported.

Bilal Karimi, the Taliban’s ambassador to China, has described Pakistan’s leadership as a “satanic circle,” saying that as long as it remains in control, stability will not be achieved in Pakistan or the wider region.

The Pakistani government has announced plans to take legal action against citizens who assist Afghan refugees by providing them with housing, employment, or concealment.

Taliban forces have once again clashed with Pakistani border guards in the Sarlat area of Shorabak district in Kandahar province, local sources told Afghanistan International on Tuesday.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that the Taliban were originally a creation of Pakistan, developed during its alliance with the United States, but have now become “untrustworthy.”

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said trade between Afghanistan and India has reached nearly USD 1 billion and that conditions are now favourable for expanding economic cooperation between the two countries.

At least 10 Taliban members were killed in heavy fighting between rival factions of the group in Badakhshan province over control of a gold mine, sources told Afghanistan International.

The Taliban have launched a religious inquisition targeting doctors and medical staff at Kabul’s Ali Abad Hospital, according to internal documents obtained by Afghanistan International.

A senior Pakistani official has denied Taliban claims that Pakistan’s defence minister, intelligence chief and two generals were denied visas to visit Kabul. The source said that no visa applications were submitted and that only a proposal for a visit had been made.

Key crossings along the Pakistan–Afghanistan remained closed for a second consecutive day on Monday following deadly clashes between Taliban and Pakistani forces over the weekend, sources told Afghanistan International.

A senior Iranian official has said the government is working to reduce the number of Afghan migrants in Iran to three percent of the population, down from the current estimate of more than six percent.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday that it hopes the people of Afghanistan will “be freed and have a truly democratic government,” in a statement that marked a notable shift in Islamabad’s tone toward the Taliban.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan, has warned that renewed Pakistani military action on Afghan territory could plunge the country into “another imposed war.” He alleged that Pakistan’s recent strikes were carried out in coordination with the United States.

Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, General Asim Munir, visited border areas along the Afghanistan frontier on Sunday following intense overnight clashes between Taliban forces and Pakistani troops.

Pakistan’s military said on Saturday that 21 of its soldiers and more than 200 Taliban and affiliated fighters were killed in heavy overnight clashes along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border.

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has warned that if efforts to maintain border security between Afghanistan and Pakistan fail, the Taliban has “other options” available.

Pakistan’s military fighter jets have bombed a Taliban military facility in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province, according to a report by Geo News.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the country’s military had delivered a “swift and effective response” to attacks launched by the Taliban on border posts along the Afghan frontier on Thursday night.